Wire-drawing block



Jan. 13, 1959 J.'A. HOLBROOK WIRE-DRAWING BLOCK 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Original Filed Sept. 19, 1952 INVENTOR JOHN A. HOLBROOK BY I, 4, q

' ATTORNEY n- 1 .1. A. HOLBROOK 2,868,359-

WIRE-DRAWING BLOCK Original Filed Sept. 19, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. JOHN A. HOLBROOK m4 div/ ATTORNEY Jan. 13, 1959 J. A. HOLBROOK2,868,359

. WIRE-DRAWING BLOCK Origihal Filed Sept. 19, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. JOHN A. HOLBROOK 1 ATTOR EY United States Patent WIRE-DRAWINGBLOCK John A. Holbrook, Worcester, Mass., assignor to MorganConstruction Company, Worcester, Mass., :1 corporation of MassachusettsContinuation of application Serial No. 310,464, September, 19, 19,52.This application January 27, 1958, Serial No. 711,527

1 Claim. Cl. 205- This invention relates generally to wire-drawingblocks and more particularly to a drum or capstan for use in a machinefor the continuous drawing of wire. This application is a continuationof patent application Serial Number 310,464,. now abandoned.

As wire-drawing speeds become greater, it is more and more evident thatthe cooling of the wire is one of the most important problems facing theoperator. It is particularly true that high-carbon steel wire is subjectto harm by over-heatingduring drawing. The usual practice in the pasthas been toprovide for the fiow of cooling air upwardly through thedrawing block on the theory that the heat from the wire passes into theblock and is removed from the blockby the air passing through its hollowinterior. It has been the practice to increase this heat transmission byproviding for an extended surface inside the block by the use of finsand the like. In some cases, means has been provided for passing airover the outer surface of the block, this means usually consisting ofapertures in the horizontal flange normally provided on such blocks.None of these cooling means will be particularly successful at thehigher drawing speeds to which the art is progressing. Even in the caseof the use of apertures in the skirt of the block, the air passes overthe outer surface of the coil of wire residing on the block and, sincethe strands of wire are normally in side-byside contacting relation,only one-half of the surface of the wire is subject to the coolingaction of the air. The present invention obviates these disadvantages ofthe prior art in a novel manner.

It is therefore an outstanding object of this invention to provide awire-drawing block in which substantially all of the surface of wirecoiled thereon is subject to the action of cooling air.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a drum fordrawing wire, which drum permits extraordinary cooling of the wireWithout sacrifice of capstan effect.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a block having anunusually effective means for admitting air to both the inner and outersurfaces of a coil of wire situated thereon.

Itis still a further object ofthe invention to provide a block which,while so constructed as to provide very good cooling of wire being drawnthereby, is nevertheless capable of use on wire-drawingmachines ofprevious construction without modification thereof.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of partsset forth in the specification and covered by the claim appended hereto.

Referring to" the drawings illustrating specific embodiments of theinvention:

Figure 1 is a top view of a wire-drawing block embodying the presentinvention,

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the embodiment of Figure 1 with aportion broken away for clarity of presentation,

Figure 3 is an elevational view of a modification of the invention witha portion broken away,

Figure 4 is an elevational view of another modification of the inventionwith a portion broken away,

Figure 5 is a top view of still another embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the apparatus shown inFigure 5. i

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, wherein are best shown the generalaspects of the invention, the block, designated by the reference numeral10, is shown in position on the bed 11 of a wire-drawing machine. Theblock consists of a generally cylindrical main body member 12 and agenerally horizontal skirt member 13 extending radially from the lowerportion of the body member. The periphery of the skirt member iscircular and fits freely and rotatably into a guard member 14 which isintegral with the bed 11. A cap 15 is fastened to the top portion ofthemain body member, since the block is provided with a hollow interior16, and is open at the top and bottom, this cap serves as a closure forthe top. The open bottom of the block is exposed to the interior of thebase of the wire-drawing machine to which cooling air is admitted underpressure in the well-known manner. The cap and main bodymember areprovided with slots 17 for receiving a coil pickup device. The upper orstorage portion of the main body member is provided with a number ofrecesses 18 which extend downwardly from the upper edge thereof andinwardly from the cylindrical outer surface. These recesses arevertically elongated and are of substantially rectangular cross section.These extend vertically for more than half the height of the main bodymemberQleaving a relatively small capstan portion 19 of the surfaceadjacent the skirt intact. This intact portion 19 is provided with anextraordinarily thick wall 20 and a series of channels 21 enter thebottom of the block and pass through the thick wall 20, communicatingfinally with the bottom portions of the recesses 18. The width andnumber of the recesses 18 are such that they occupy approximatelyone-half the circumference of the block in the portion thereof in whichthey reside, the rest of the circumference consisting of intact ridges23. The intersections of the radial sides of the recesses 18 with thesurfaceof the block are rounded to prevent cutting of the wire and toprovide smaller area of contact between the Wire and the block. Theskirt member 13 is provided with a series of slots 22 concentric withthe axis of the block and having sides which are inclined upwardlytoward the said axis, as is evident in Figure 2.

The operation of the apparatus will be evident in view of the abovediscussion. During the operation of the wire-drawing machine, the blockis rotated in the usual manner. After leaving the preceding die, thewire is wrapped onto the block and reaches the block on the in tactportion 19 of the main body member closely adjacent to the intersectionthereof with the skirt 313. As succeeding turns of the block take place,additional coils of wire are added and the preceding :coils are pushedupwardly. The successive coils of wire form a solid wall up the side ofthe main body member to the point where wire passes off the block to thenext die. The :upward pressure of the oncoming wire combines with thedownward pressure of the weight of the wire and the frictionalresistance to upward movement of the wire to cause the coils of wire tobe pressed closely together. This means that there is little or no gapbetween coils. Theoretically, there is line contact between successivecoils of wire, so that one-half of the wire surface resides on theoutside of the wall formed by the wire. The other half of the wiresurface, of course, faces toward the block. Now, as air is introducedinto the bed 11 of the machine, it passes upwardly and out of themachine through any available passage. This means that substantialstreams of air flow upwardly through the slots 22. Because of thenozzlelike configuration of the surfaces of the slots, the air isdirected inwardly and upwardly against the main body member 12 of theblock. After leaving the slots, the air flows almost directly upwardly,but due to the rotation of the block and Wire, the passage of anincrement of air over the outer surface of the wall of wire issubstantially helical. The air also flows upwardly through the channels21 into the recesses 18 in the surface of the main body member. Avertical passage is formed by the inner surface of the wall of wire andthe surfaces defining the recesses 18. It can be seen, then, that theinner surface of the wall formed by the wire is scrubbed and cooled bythe air flowing upwardly in the passage so formed. Even though suchcooling by air takes place only where the inner surface of the wall ofwire is exposed by a recess 18, it can be appreciated that heat willflow from the portions of the wire not so cooled into the portions whichare cooled. The net result is fairly even cooling of all the wire.

Referring to Figure 3, wherein is shown an embodiment of the presentinvention, the block 30 is shown mounted on the bed 35. of awire-drawing machine and is composed of a generally cylindrical mainbody member 32 having a small outwardly-extending flange 33 at its loweredge. A guard 34 mounted on the bed 31 is formed with a substantialinwardly-extending flange which overlies the flange 33 of the main bodymember. A cap 35 is fastened to the top of the main body member andserves as a closure for its hollow interior 36. Slots 37 for a coilpickup hook are formed in the cap and the main body member. Verticalrecesses 38 extend downwardly from the top of the main body member andextend over a substantial portion of the surface of the said member,there being a small portion 39 in the lower portion of the member whichis free of such recesses. The portion 39 is provided with a thick wall40 through which extend passages 4-1 which enter the lower edge of themain body member and communicate with the lower portions of the recesses38. Concentric notches 42 enter the inner edge of the guard 34, thenotches being radially co-extensive with the flange 33 on the main bodymember. The operation of this embodiment is substantially like that ofthe block shown in Figure 1. However, in this case the flow of air isslightly different. The air flows upwardly through the annular passageformed by the outer edge of the flange 42 and the inner surface of theguard 34; it then passes into the space between the upper surface of theflange 33 and the lower surface of the inward extension of the guard 34.From there the air passes upwardly through the passages formed betweenthe surfaces defining the notches 42 and the lower portion 39 of thesurface of the main body member. The net result is that the air isdirected strongly against the outer surface of the wall of wireparticularly in the area in which it first comes onto the block andwhere it is at its highest temperature.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 4-, wherein, asbefore, a block 50 is shown in position on the bed 51 of a wire-drawingmachine. The block consists of a main body member 52 having a hollowinterior 56, a cap 55 mounted on top of the body member; and a guard 54extending upwardly from the bed 51 and surrounding the body member. Theguard is provided with an inwardly-extending flange, the inner edge ofwhich lies closely adjacent to the surface of the main body member andis formed with notches 62. The latter member has an outwardly-extendingflange 53 which underlies the flange on the guard 54. A vertical recess57 extends over the cap and !block for the reception of a cOil pick-updevice. Vertical grooves or recesses 58 extend from the top of the mainbody member to the flange 53, defining thereby Vertical areas or ridges63 constituting the wire-bearing surfaces of the block. The block isprovided with an inwardly-projecting annular protuberance adjacent theflange 53 and through this ridge extend passages 61 which enter thelower edge of the main body member and communicate with the recesses 58.The operation of this embodiment of the invention is quite similar tothat of the previously described blocks. However, the fact that there isno unrecessed surface which is the equivalent of the portion 19 inFigure 1, means that the air flow will be somewhat different. The flowthrough the notches 62 will be similar to that described in connectionwith the embodiment of Figure 2, but the provision of recesses 58extending vertically over the entire area over which wire will lieoffers substantially greater cooling of the inside surface of the wallformed by the coils of wire.

Figure 5 shows still another embodiment of the invention, the apparatusshown therein consisting of a block 70 in position on the bed 71 of awire-drawing machine. The block consists of a main body member 72 havinga hollow interior, a cap mounted on top of the body member, and a guard74 extending upwardly from the bed 71 and surrounding the body member. Agenerally horizontal skirt member 73 extends radially from the lowerportion of the body member. The periphery of the skirt member iscircular, fits freely into the guard member 74 which is integral withthe bed 71, and is provided with concentric slots 82. The cap and mainbody meniber are provided with slots 77 for receiving a coil-pickupdevice. The upper portion of the main body member is provided with anumber of recesses 78 which extend downwardly from the upper edgethereof and inwardly from the cylindrical outer surface. These recessesare vertically elongated and are of such a cross-sectional shape thatthe portion of the capstan which is left intact, i. e., ridges 83 are ofalmost semi-cylindrical shape. Means is provided, as in the otherembodiments, for supplying air to the recesses for scrubbing and coolingthe inside surface of a coil of wire wound on the block. The majordifference between the present embodiment and those describedhereinbefore, lies in the shape of the recesses 78 and the ridges orcorrugations 83. An examination of the enlarged view shown in Figure 6will explain the desirability of such semi-cylindrical shape. It can beseen that when the wall of wire is wound around the block in the portionthereof having such recesses and such ridges, there will be theoreticalpoint contact between each turn of wire and a ridge. Thus, almost theentire inside area of the wall of wire will be exposed to the coolingaction of the air, the outer surface being exposed, of course, to theaction of air passing upwardly through the slots 82 in the skirt 73.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from the material spiritthereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to theexact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include allsuch as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is:

Block for use with a wire drawing machine having a base to which airunder pressure may be admitted, comprising: a main body membercomprising a top and a generally cylindrical wall forming a hollowinterior which 2,868,859 a 5 y 6 communicates with the base so that airunder pressure to force the air to enter the groove through the said maybe admitted into the said interior, a plurality of passage, and totravel lengthwise along the groove for elongated grooves formed in theouter surface area of escape at the opposite end. said cylindrical wallextending upwardly and axially, the

inner surface area of said cylindrical wall backing said 5 ReferencesCited in the file of this Patent groove so that it opens outwardly only,the said grooves UNITED STATES PATENTS extending axially to one end ofthe member, a passage 1,828,922 Can-011 Oct 27, 1931 extending throughsaid cylindrical wall into each groove at the downward end thereof sothat wire coiled on the FOREIGN PATENTS body member closes the outwardopening of the groove 10 542,201 Great Britain Dec. 3, 1941

